Colors in the Kaleidoscope
by Akatsuki210
Summary: On a trip to a strange, mushi-saturated land, Ginko encounters a young shinobi with a unique illness. Will Ginko be able to help him, and what will he learn about himself in the process? One-shot, crossover with Naruto.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_, _Mushishi_, or any of the characters, _mushi_, _jutsu , _etc_. _in either series.

**Notes:** _Kiri-no-Kokoro_ means "heart of mist"; _kagami_ means "mirror".

* * *

**Colors in the Kaleidoscope**

"What an inconvenient time for a storm to blow in!" Ginko struggled to clamber uphill against a powerful wind, while rain splashed down all around him. He had put his coat over his head, but this was pretty much useless because the strong wind was driving the rain almost horizontally. "I wonder if there's anyplace where I can take shelter for the night?"

Reaching the top of the hill, Ginko groaned in disappointment. The land spread out before him in a flat plain, so that it would have been easy to see the lights from any settlements. Unfortunately, this particular region of the Fire Country appeared to be mostly deserted. Was he really going to have to trudge all the way to the next set of hills to find a place where he could get out of the storm?

Ginko looked around, and saw that off to the left, the land started to rise again. In the side of one hill was a cave, and Ginko headed towards it. It might not be an inn with nourishing stew and a roaring fireplace to warm himself at, but it was better than nothing.

As soon as he entered the cave, Ginko heard a shuffling at the far end. _Some kind of animal? _he wondered, and braced himself to run if necessary. But then a hoarse voice asked, "Who's there?"

Ginko relaxed, and lit his lantern so that he could see the speaker. A young boy, perhaps thirteen or fifteen years old, was huddled against the opposite wall of the cave. His face was pale and streaked with dirt, and he seemed exhausted. He had long, ebony hair tied in a ponytail, and he was holding a short sword that was smeared with blood.

"My name's Ginko," the silver-haired _mushishi_ said. "I'm just a traveler caught in the storm. Do you mind if I share your cave until the rain stops? I promise, I have no intention of hurting you."

The boy scrutinized him closely for a few moments, then lowered his sword. "You don't have a ninja's _chakra_," he observed. "You aren't a hunter-nin."

Ginko laughed. "Hunter-nin are elite warriors, aren't they? Well, I'm certainly no soldier. I'm just a wandering _mushishi_."

"_Mushishi_? They're...scholars, aren't they?"

"Most of us are, yes. I suppose you could say that we're like doctors or herbalists as well. We study creatures called _mushi_ and try to help people who've stumbled across ones that are dangerous."

The boy nodded. "I've read books about _mushi_ and _mushishi_. Some experts theorize that _mushi_ are what allow ninjas to utilize_ chakra_."

Ginko busily set about building a fire. "That's essentially correct. _Mushi_ tend to congregate around a river of pure life-force commonly called the 'light flow'. Under this continent, the light flow has pooled into a sort of underground sea. As a result, _mushi_ are incredibly common here. They saturate everything, creating immense amounts of energy that talented humans can tap into. This energy is what you call _chakra_. It's an unusual phenomenon--where I come from, _mushi_ are much rarer. That's why I came here. I wanted to study how things are in a place where _mushi_ are so numerous."

Ginko was about to light the fire when the boy's hand flashed out and grabbed his wrist. _So fast! I didn't even see his hand move!_ "You must not light that fire."

"Why? It will warm both of us up, and dry us off. If we stay soaked and cold like this, we'll be in danger of developing pneumonia."

"The light will attract enemies."

"Enemies? I've only been on this continent for a couple of weeks, and I don't think I've managed to piss anyone off _that_ badly."

"I am not referring to your enemies; I mean mine. I am...pursued. In truth, you are in danger just by being with me, but I judged that the danger to you as a civilian wandering around in this storm was even greater. Still, you should not do anything that will increase the chances of hostile forces finding me. For your sake as well as mine."

"All right." Ginko rummaged in his case for a few minutes, finally dragging out a couple of blankets. "Here," he said, handing one to the boy. "At least wrap this around yourself. It should help a little. And..." He dug in his case a bit more, pulling out a couple of paper packets. "Take this medicine if you develop a fever and cough."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "You have training as a medic?"

"No," Ginko admitted, "but I'm sometimes stuck in the wilderness for weeks at a time. If I didn't know how to take care of myself, I'd have died long ago. That's a medicine made by my friend Adashino-sensei, who _is_ a doctor. He keeps me supplied with any medicines that I might need and makes sure I know how to use them properly."

The boy nodded his agreement and took the packet from Ginko. "Thank you, Ginko-san."

"No problem. Us travelers have to stick together, eh?" Ginko took out a cigarette. "Do you mind if I smoke this?"

"...The light from that is too small to be seen from a distance, so it is alright."

"Thanks. By the way, what's your name?"

The boy seemed hesistant to answer, but watching Ginko carefully, he finally said, "Uchiha Itachi."

* * *

In the middle of the night, a tremendous thunderclap woke Ginko up. _How long do storms last in this country, anyway?_ Before he could turn over and try to get back to sleep, a hand fastened itself over his mouth. "Make no sound," a voice whispered in his ear.

Listening carefully, Ginko could hear people moving around outside the mouth of the cave. _The hunter-nin that Itachi-san spoke of?_ Slowly, one man entered the cave, with two others close behind him. They carried no light source, and were clearly taking pains to be quiet. Itachi removed his hand from Ginko's mouth and moved towards the center of the cave, where the firewood Ginko had assembled earlier was. Suddenly, he lit a match and threw it onto the firewood, bathing the cave in illumination that the three invaders clearly didn't expect.

"Uchiha Itachi, you are--" One of them started to speak, but was cut off in mid-sentence. Ginko drew in a harsh breath when he saw that Itachi's formerly black eyes were now red. _A trick of the light? No. This is something else. _

"Leave now. Erase this encounter from your memories." Itachi's voice was soft and toneless, containing absolutely no fear. The three men blinked in confusion, then turned and exited as quietly as they had come in.

Itachi turned to Ginko, and the red color bled out of his eyes.

"That was a _genjutsu_, wasn't it?"

Itachi nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else, then doubled over, coughing violently.

"Itachi-san!" Ginko hurried to his side. "The medicine I gave you, where is it?" He noted with alarm that a small amount of blood was trickling from one corner of Itachi's mouth.

"This is not something your friend's medicine can cure," Itachi said, wiping his mouth. "It is not caused by the cold or damp. It is...a consequence of something I have done."

They sat in silence for a while, and then Ginko said, "I've seen this _genjutsu_ of yours. Are you going to erase my memory as well?"

"I should." Itachi said this blankly, without either malice or regret.

"Whatever illness you have, there's a chance I could find a way to help you. I have a good friend who's the best doctor I know. And it may be that this illness is caused by a _mushi_ of some sort. I have no ties to any of the political entities on this continent--whoever's chasing you, I give you my word that I won't betray you to them."

There was a long pause, and then Itachi said, "Ninja are trained to be good judges of character. I do not believe that you are lying. But you, apparently, are not as good a judge of character as I am. If you wish to help someone, find a person more worthy of it."

"Worthiness doesn't matter!" Ginko exclaimed. "My job is to help anyone who's been afflicted by harmful _mushi_. Whether the person is good or bad is irrelevant. And I'm not as poor a judge of character as you seem to think." He fixed Itachi with a solemn gaze. "When I look at you, I see a boy who's scared and desperate, even though he'll never admit it to another soul. A boy who's carrying guilt that's not his own--not entirely, at any rate. A boy who's lost quite a lot, and is determined not to let the loss show. Or am I wrong?"

Itachi watched in silence as Ginko opened a compartment in his case and pulled out a set of syringes and vials. "Now, I'll need to examine you and take some blood samples to figure out what's wrong." He opened another compartment, this time taking out what appeared to be a silkworm's cocoon wrapped in thin sheets of paper. "This is an _Uro_ cocoon; I'll explain how to use it. The basic gist is that it will allow you to send and receive messages from me. I'll use it to let you know as soon as I've figured out anything about your illness. I'll be heading back to my own continent in a few weeks, but if I come across a way to help you, I'll send you a letter through the _Uro_, and we can arrange a meeting. Alright?"

* * *

"We've heard of your deeds, and are impressed by your power and skill. We would like to have you as a member of our organization. If you accept our offer, the benefits will be great. For example, we will be able to give you substantial protection from the hunter-nin..."

Itachi carefully watched the man in front of him. He had spiky orange hair and over a dozen piercings. A blue-haired woman stood beside him. She had remained silent throughout the meeting. Both wore long black cloaks dotted with red clouds.

When the man had finished his speech, Itachi tried to give the appearance of carefully considering the offer. In truth, he had already made up his mind to accept. The criminal organization the orange-haired man had described sounded like it could pose a great threat to the Fire Country--and to the rest of the world, for that matter. If he could infiltrate them, and find a way to pass information back to Konoha...

His musings were interrupted by a rustling sound from inside his backpack. Both Pain and Konan were instantly on alert. Konan snatched the pack from him and opened it, cautiously removing an object that looked very much like a silkworm's cocoon. It was vibrating rapidly in her hand and emitting a significant quantity of chakra.

Mentally cursing Ginko's poor timing, Itachi hastily explained, "That is a device for sending messages over long distances. I use it to communicate with a spy in the Leaf that I've been controlling through _genjutsu_."

If either Pain or Konan detected the lie, they gave no sign. Konan peeled the paper off the cocoon and dug a finger into the small hole that was revealed, pulling out a sheaf of parchment. "It seems your spy has a report for you, Itachi-san."

"Indeed. Perhaps I may be permitted to read it before I respond to your offer?" Konan glanced at Pain, who nodded silently. Konan handed the parchment to Itachi, who quickly began to read:

_Itachi-san,_

_I've examined the blood samples I took and spoken with Adashino-sensei. Based on your symptoms, we believe that your illness is caused by an unusual chakra centered around your eyes. This chakra is emitted by a mushi that normally seems to exist in a symbiotic relationship with its host. However, something has changed to turn a normally benign symbiote into a malignant parasite. It feeds off your own chakra and secretes a toxic byproduct that degrades both your eyesight and your general health. I don't have any advice as to treatment yet, but will advise you immediately in the event that I find something._

_Because this toxic chakra is focused around your eyes, it is __**imperative**__ that you do not strain them any more than absolutely necessary. _

_Sincerely, _

_Ginko_

Itachi folded up the letter and slipped it into a pocket. _So, these mushi inhabit Uchiha bodies and give us the Sharingan ability in exchange for their residence inside us? And something about gaining the Mangekyou must transform them into parasites that cause blindness and death. _He briefly wondered whether Ginko might actually be able to find a cure for the _mushi_-induced disease that was the price of the Mangekyou, but quickly squashed the thought. _I don't __**deserve**__ a long or healthy life. _

"Itachi-san? Have you come to a decision?"

"Yes," Itachi replied. "I will join the Akatsuki."

* * *

_Why is it that everytime I come here, it's raining?_ Ginko trudged through the downpour towards the main gate of the city where Itachi had said they could meet. It was very different from most of the cities and towns he had visited on his previous trip to this continent two years ago.

"Halt! Who are you, and what is your business in Amegakure?" Two stern-looking guards flanked the gate. Both men were glaring at him suspiciously.

Ginko waved a piece of paper at him. "I was invited here by one of your citizens. A boy named Uchiha Itachi?"

One of the guards scrutinized the letter in which Itachi had instructed Ginko to come to a place called Amegakure. "Go on in, but be careful. We're still in a state of war, and that bastard Hanzou might try to fuck with you if he thinks you're here to visit someone from Pain-sama's faction."

Ginko had no idea who Hanzou was, but understood that he was in a dangerous place. _I guess I'd better do what I can to protect myself_, he thought. As he stepped through the gate, he pulled out a glass vial containing something that looked like unusually thick fog and unstoppered it. The _Kiri-no-Kokoro_ _mushi_ inside flowed around him, concealing him from the sight of anyone who might be watching. In the dim light of Ame, he squinted at the map Itachi had drawn for him at the bottom of his letter.

Upon reaching his destination, he found the Uchiha already waiting for him. "Hello, Ginko-san. Why did you request this meeting?"

Ginko started. "You can see me through the _Kiri-no-Kokoro_?"

Itachi wordlessly pointed to his eyes by way of answering.

"Oh." Ginko lit a cigarette, and the _Kiri-no-Kokoro_ fled from the flames. "I've brought you something." As he searched through his case, Ginko regarded the boy he'd met on his first trip to this strange, _mushi_-saturated land. He was taller than when Ginko first encountered him, and the lines under his eyes were deeper. Instead of what Ginko now knew to be the standard uniform of the elite ANBU units, he wore a long-sleeved, ankle-length black cloak with red clouds printed on it. He still wore his metal forehead protector, but there was a horizontal slash through the village symbol etched on it. Ginko finally found what he was looking for, and held a few paper packets out to Itachi. "These are a medicine that should slow the illness somewhat. Take one each week, and have a medical specialist analyze one to replicate it. I'm afraid this is only a stopgap measure, but it will buy time while I look for something that will work better."

Itachi hesitated for a moment, but then said, "Thank you, Ginko-san," and took the packets.

They stood in uncomfortable silence for a while, until Ginko finally ventured, "So, you've taken sides in some kind of war?"

Itachi glared at him sharply. Ginko thought that if he hadn't seen so many unhuman--and sometimes terrifying--creatures in his life, that glare would have scared him half out of his wits. "What makes you say that?"

Ginko shrugged. "Guard at the gate said the village was in a state of war, and you were on the side of someone named Pain-sama."

Itachi seemed to relax a little. "That is true." But Ginko, as he had assured Itachi before, was a pretty good judge of human character, and was certain that this was only part of the truth. Although he hadn't interacted with Itachi much, he was already starting to get the feeling that the younger man rarely told anyone the whole truth.

"I also want to take another look at your eyes, to see how far things have progressed over the past two years," Ginko suggested, and Itachi nodded his acquiescence.

Ginko hissed as he examined Itachi's eyes with a small scope. "There's been a substantial amount of deterioration," he admonished. "Didn't I tell you to be careful not to strain them?"

"I am a shinobi," Itachi answered. "It is sometimes necessary to use them in battle."

"But if you let them disintegrate too far, you won't be able to fight at all. You need to think of the future, Itachi-san."

Itachi turned away from Ginko, staring out a nearby window. His next words were so soft that Ginko barely heard them. "I have no future."

"Don't say that!" Itachi turned to face Ginko again, his face showing surprise at the vehemence in the _mushishi_'s tone. He raised an eyebrow. "Should I not speak the truth, Ginko-san?"

* * *

_Well, at least it's not raining this time._ Ginko was walking down a road that connected two major cities in the Land of Lightning. It was a place of rolling hills and dewy meadows, broken by occasional forests composed of towering trees draped with moss. _Why on earth would he want to meet in the middle of nowhere, though?_

He had been visiting the Karibusa family library, and uncovered a few old scrolls that suggested a possible avenue of treatment for Itachi's illness. He had mixed up a new and improved medicine, and sent Itachi a message through the _Uro_ cocoon requesting a meeting. It had been nearly four years since he had last seen Itachi, and he hoped that the ninja had heeded his warnings about the need to protect his failing eyesight.

The appointed meeting place was now coming in sight: a barren crag of rock protruding incongruously from the top of the grassy hill around it. Seeing the black-clad figure sitting on top of the rock, Ginko climbed up to join him. "I've got a new medicine for you," he said. "It's still not a cure, but it should do a better job of fending off the symptoms than the previous one." Ginko was struck by the change in Itachi's appearance. Despite his fearsome prowess in battle, he had still had the look of a gangly teenaged boy the last time Ginko had seen him. Now he was a young man. But Ginko could see that both his illness and the other mysterious burdens he carried weighed more heavily on him than ever.

"Please tell me you've been taking care of your eyes," Ginko said as he handed the packets of medicine to Itachi.

"Unfortunately--" Itachi began, then stopped and sprang to his feet. Remembering their first meeting, when Itachi had detected the approach of enemies while his companion slept, Ginko stood too. He had opened his pack to take out the medicine, so it was easy to reach in and grab a packet full of a completely different substance.

The air at the other end of the rock slab shimmered, and four men in ANBU garb appeared. Itachi moved his fingers in a flurry of arcane gestures, and duplicates of himself appeared on either side of him. Each _kage bunshin_ formed its own set of seals and spewed a torrent of water from its mouth. The real Itachi stuck one hand into each water blast, and both hands began to glow with blue electricity. The electricity crackled through the jets of water, causing two of the assailants to drop with cries of pain.

_Well, I guess this is sort of redundant now,_ Ginko thought, glancing at the packet he held. The _kagamimushi_ inside, if thrown on a person, would instantly form itself into a duplicate of him, with all the skills and abiliites of the original. Normally, the _kagami_ would go off on its own, but if thrown into a dangerous situation like this one, it would certainly fight to defend itself.

Unfortunately for Ginko, the remaining two hunter-nin had also seen the packet in his hand. One of them threw a _shuriken_ at him, with ninja wire attached. Ginko tried to dodge, but the _shuriken_ buried itself in his shoulder nonetheless. The wire spun around him, pinning his arms to his sides and tangling around his legs. Ginko lost his balance, and with a yell of surprise, he fell off the rock.

When he hit the ground, pain surged through his shoulder, along with a sickening sense of displacement. On top of the rock, Itachi glanced at him briefly, then turned back to the hunter-nin. "How dare you," he uttered coldly, "endanger an innocent civilian just to get to me?" Ginko had just enough time to see a blast of white-hot flame racing towards the hunter-nin before he passed out.

He woke to find Itachi bending over him. "Are you...alright?" Ginko asked thickly, remembering that two of their attackers had still been alive when he lost consciousness.

"I am fine," Itachi answered. "You, however, have a dislocated shoulder. I've reset it, but your range of motion with that arm will still be limited for some time."

Itachi gazed off into the distance while Ginko fashioned a sling for his injured arm. "Why are you helping me?" he asked abruptly.

"Hmm?" Ginko looked up quizzically. "It's my job to help people who are afflicted by _mushi_."

"But they typically pay you for this service, do they not?"

"Yes, if they can. Sometimes my payment is simply meals and a place to sleep for however long I'm in town. And usually, if I pass through a place where I've helped people before, they'll give me food and shelter."

"But I have done nothing of the sort for you. And I do not think you give all your clients _Uro_ cocoons."

Ginko sighed, took a long draw on his cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "The truth is, I understand what it's like to live on borrowed time."

"Oh?"

"I don't remember anything of my past from before I was about ten years old. So for the longest time, I didn't know how I ended up like this." Ginko pushed back the bangs over his left eye, revealing the empty socket. "This wasn't removed surgically--there are no scars. And there's no damage to the underlying muscle or nerve, as there would be if the eye were gouged out by an accident or an attack. It simply...isn't there." He let his bangs fall back over the place where his eye should be. "It wasn't until much later, when I was visiting a great library of _mushi_ lore, that I found a description fitting my condition exactly. There are two _mushi_ involved, called _tokoyami_ and _ginko_." Seeing a fleeting look pass over Itachi's face, Ginko smiled slightly. "Yes, that's where I got my name. You see, I don't remember the one I was born with. Anyway, _tokoyami_ are a _mushi_ of absolute darkness, and _ginko_ are a _mushi_ of light that live within them. If you look at the light of the _ginko_ for too long, the _tokoyami_ take root in one of your eyes, and you lose it. After a time--none of the writings I've found say how long--the _tokoyami_ take over your whole body and turn you into something like themselves."

Itachi's eyes widened. "So you are...infected by these _tokoyami_? In all your travels, you haven't been able to find a cure?"

Ginko shook his head. "I haven't. And I don't know when the final transformation will take place. It could be fifty years from now...or it could be tomorrow." He stood and took up his pack, careful to carry its weight only on his uninjured shoulder. "Itachi-san. I'm going to be honest with you. I'll keep searching for a cure to your illness, as well as one to my own. But I can't guarantee that I'll be successful on either count. I've chosen to give meaning to whatever time I have left by helping as many of those who have been harmed by dangerous _mushi_ as I can. You should also find something to give meaning to however much time is left to you. Life is short for all humans, but for those of us whose lives are destined to be even shorter, wasting our time is even more inexcusable."

And then Itachi did something that very few people had ever seen him do.

He smiled.

"A source of meaning? Yes...I already have that."

* * *

By now, Ginko was used to the rain that seemed to occur whenever he visited this land. There had been a monstrous crack of thunder earlier, coupled with a flash of lightning that left afterimages on his eye, but the storm now seemed to be dying down.

_I wish that I had better news for you, Itachi-san._ Ginko had found no cure for Itachi's illness in the few years since his last visit, and even his efforts to delay its progression further seemed to have hit a dead end. The best he could do was to bring the contents of a jar that was nestled in the most secure compartment of his case. For about the tenth time, he set the case down on a rock and checked to see that the precious jar was still secure, all the while thinking of the letter he had sent through the _Uro_ cocoon a few weeks ago:

_Itachi-san,_

_Unfortunately, I can't report any progress on treating your illness. Considering the severity of your symptoms, I fear that you may be entering the final stages, and even if I do come across a treatment, it may be too late for it to do any good. However, I may be able to alleviate one of the major symptoms during your remaining lifespan. I've come into possession of a _mushi_ called _ganfuku_, which lives in the host's eyes and grants them vastly improved sight. Their eyesight continually improves over time, eventually allowing them to see things that are happening miles away, or even in the future. Needless to say, many hosts find this very disturbing, and when it reaches the end of that stage in its life cycle, the _ganfuku_ causes the host's eyes to fall out, leaving them completely blind. In your case, however, I believe (although it obviously pains me to say this) that your body will most likely succumb to the _mushi_ that is already present in you before the augmentation of your sight reaches that point. While I cannot offer you a cure for your condition, the _ganfuku_ will at least allow you to regain your sight for the time that you have left. If this is acceptable to you, please inform me so that we can arrange a meeting._

_Sincerely,_

_Ginko_

In his hands, Ginko held a letter in Itachi's neat handwriting, replying to his own. The instructions were very clear: Ginko was to meet him at a certain fortress in the Fire Country that he would be able to recognize by the fan-shaped emblem on its spire. As he came within sight of the fortress, however, Ginko saw something that took his breath away.

Black flames ringed the hill on which the fortress stood, consuming the once-rich forest that surrounded it. The rain that still drizzled weakly from the sky did nothing to put them out. And within the circle of fire, the fortress itself was in ruins. The spire Itachi had mentioned was broken, and the roof itself was caved in. A scent of ozone and smoke hung in the air, and much of the rubble was burned and scarred.

_Fire like this isn't natural. This was done intentionally. Could it have been those hunter-nin who seemed to be pursuing him before? No, none of them had anywhere near this level of power. This is someone else._

Spying a gap in the ring of fire, Ginko hesitated only briefly before running through. _I have to make this quick. If that gap closes before I can make it back out..._

Ginko clambered over the wreckage, making his way towards a flat plateau. As he approached, he saw that two bodies lay there. One was unmistakably Itachi, and the other was a boy of about sixteen. The boy was unconscious and appeared badly injured...and Itachi stared sightlessly up at the sky.

"Itachi-san!" Ginko began to run towards the bodies, but something rose out of the ground in his path.

The man's face was divided starkly into two halves, one white and the other black. His hair was green, and the sharp leaves of a Venus flytrap extended upwards from his shoulders. _Incredible. This man must be half-_mushi_._ It was extremely rare for a _mushi_ to inhabit a pregnant woman, and when it did, the mother most often died before or during childbirth. In the majority of cases that did make it to term, the child was stillborn as well.

"Who are you?" the stranger asked, and Ginko noted that only the half of his mouth on the white side of his face moved.

"My name is Ginko, and I'm a friend of Itachi-san's. Please, allow me to see what's wrong with him."

**"It's obvious what's wrong with him,"** the man replied, this time speaking from the black side of his face. **"He's dead."**

Ginko's shoulders slumped, and he closed his eyes. _I had hoped..._ Although he had never learned anything about Itachi's past, he knew that he carried a heavy burden. _When I first met him, I remember thinking that no one so young should look like he did._ _He looked like he believed that he had a terrible fate, one that was already sealed. It reminded me of how I felt when I first learned about the _tokoyami_. I wish that I could have defied his fate, even if I can't defy my own._ Stepping around the half-_mushi_, who watched him carefully, Ginko knelt by Itachi's body and gently closed his eyes.

"What do you know about Itachi-san?" Zetsu asked suddenly. _**If he knows too much, we might have to eat him.**_

"Only enough to be sorry that I couldn't help him," Ginko answered. Then he rose and walked back out through the ring of fire, the now-useless _ganfuku_ still hidden in his case.

* * *

In his cabin on the boat that was taking him back to his own continent, Ginko closed his eyes...and then he closed them again.

The light flow was as vibrant as ever, drifting onward endlessly towards its unknown destination. But unlike most of the other times he'd visited, Ginko wasn't alone upon its banks. There was a figure walking steadily away from him. It was a figure Ginko recognized.

Among _mushishi_, it was said that most people who could find the light flow would either sit in one place on its banks, or walk up and down them aimlessly. But occasionally, one might see a person walking with a determined stride in one direction only. These were the souls of the recently dead, and they were walking towards the source.

Every river has a source, a place that it springs from, and the light flow is no different. Since the light flow was life in its purest form, it stood to reason that its source was the source of life, and it was to this place that the newly dead went. Some said that when they reached it, they drank from it and so passed into an entirely different world. Others said that they plunged into the source and became pure life-force themselves. Still others said that they waded in and were reincarnated into new bodies on earth.

Ginko followed the figure along the banks of the light flow. He didn't know how long they walked for, although he knew that he wasn't getting tired. Finally, Ginko saw a glow in the distance that seemed to get brighter and brighter. As they came close to it, he saw that it was the source of the light flow, which appeared to emerge from thin air and was so bright that he couldn't look directly at it.

"Did you know," Itachi asked him, finally turning around, "that the living can't find their way to the source of the light flow on their own? The only way to reach it is to follow the dead." He cupped his hands and placed them in the flow, holding the shimmering liquid out towards Ginko. "This is life in its purest form, and it is more potent than even the rest of the light flow. If you drink it, the _mushi_ inside you will feed on it for years, instead of on you. It won't cure you of the _tokoyami_, but it will buy you time." Ginko held out his own hands, and Itachi poured the liquid light into them. "I want to do the same thing for you that you did for me."

Being careful not to spill the precious burden cupped in his hands, Ginko bowed deeply. "Thank you." He raised his hands to his mouth and drank. It tasted like the sweetest, clearest _sake_ he had ever tasted. Even regular _koki_ couldn't compare to it. It seemed to spread a feeling of warmth and peace throughout his body, and he closed his eyes as he was overwhelmed by contentment.

When he opened his eyes, Itachi was gone.

In his cabin on the boat that was taking him back to his own continent, Ginko opened his eyes, and opened them again.

* * *

**A/N:** Hm, I seem to be on a crossover kick lately, don't I? I do also have a one-shot set entirely in the _Mushishi_ universe that I'm working on, though.

All the _mushi_ mentioned in this story, except for the _Kiri-no-Kokoro_ and _kagamimushi_, are from the_ Mushishi_ series.

This is my first time ever writing Ginko, so I hope I managed to do justice to such an awesome character.

Reviews, of course, are always appreciated!


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